Wednesday, November 26, 2008

My friend Michael compiled a list of his 100 favorite albums and then challenged me to reciprocate, so here's mine. This is not my current heavy-rotation playlist, but rather the albums that had the biggest impact on my life, from the day I bought my first record (a K-Tel compilation of ABBA's greatest hits, I'm sorry to say) to now.

I hope someone else finds this entertaining or perhaps useful... though these albums are probably not to everyone's taste, I guarantee that not a single one of them is boring!

Saturday, November 8, 2008

So it's happened again – there I was, minding my own business and trying to conserve my financial resources, and suddenly I came across another incredible artist. João Ruas is a 27-year-old illustrator who lives in São Paulo, Brazil, and he paints strange, haunting, mysterious scenarios laden with emotion and atmosphere. He says, "I enjoy the ability to create some absurd but still believable reality from scratch. I just try to send these crazy thoughts to paper."

"Haunted #16"

I was helpless to resist this crazy picture, and if you click into it I'm sure you'll see why. The characters' expressions are nuanced, their gestures are evocative, the textures are impeccable and precise, yet very economically rendered, and the palette choices are bold and unusual. Its surrealism takes a really unique tone, quite distinct from other artists in this genre, and alongside its enigmatic, ethereal qualities is a lighthearted, playful note. (I feel it's worth mentioning that João seems to be a bit obsessed with girls in parkas.)

"Haunted #11"

This exquisitely rendered drawing, "Haunted #11," also has a host of possible interpretations. Personally, I immediately decided that the girl is an angel trying to pass as human, attempting to conceal her wings beneath her parka with limited success. The mannequin-like hands reaching out to her seem to be the self-involved prayers and grasping needs of humans. I'm not quite sure why the letters "ELA." immediately brought to mind Elohim, a Hebrew name for God, and by association melakh Elohim, an angel or "messenger of God" – that's probably not João's intention, but I can't escape it. (In fact, "ela" means "she" in Portuguese.) Her face is lovely, weary yet resigned, and it looks like it's cold outside and maybe she has a touch of the flu. I could keep going... but I'll leave it to you to weave together your own story.

"Self-Portrait"

There's not much information about João out there on the net, but I lifted a few remarks from an interview he did last year which may shed some light on his work.

"My true passions are pencils, watercolor and gouache, most of time combined together. Pencils are the most basic, forgiving and, at the same time, it allows a line full of expression to intricate details. When I use watercolors it seems I am not alone, the ink is alive. You can’t do the same brush stroke twice, it reacts to everything, from the humidity in the air to the age of the paper you picked. I really enjoy the sensation of trusting your senses and intuitions while painting with watercolor."

"Haunted #6"

"I started using gouache when I realized I couldn’t use acrylics properly (still can’t) and needed some opaque media to complete my watercolors. Gouache is a favorite nowadays, it gives me a great range of opacity, even impastos, and it mixes really well with the watercolors on paper."

"I have a handful of personal projects that are sometimes evolving, sometimes not. They include two graphic novel ideas, one about Russian cosmonauts left on space as communism collapsed, another one is a fairy tale for grownups about a lighthouse village being visited by forest creatures… and evil pirates."

"Downtown"

Though João Ruas is thus far a little-known name in pop surrealist circles, he won two awards at last year's Spectrum competition, alongside illustration luminaries like James Jean and Shaun Tan. Thinkspace's current Drawing Room show contains several of João's pieces, and the gallery will be seeing more work from him in the coming year. Make sure to check out his work at Thinkspace while you have the chance – I have a feeling he's one to watch.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Be sure to check out Tessar Lo's show at Roq la Rue this Friday, November 7th, entitled my love, it's on we. (It's a double entendre, of course.) Tessar has outdone himself, as usual, envisioning a dreamlike plane of existence where physical reality is gauzy and ephemeral, yet thought and emotion rage like a psychedelic brushfire.

"Knowledge"

Tessar will be on hand to discuss the 13 paintings in the show and his many-layered installation of process work, sketches and explorations. There will also be an extremely limited edition of hand-touched serigraphs available to those lucky Seattleites who attend the opening. If you'd like to know more about Tessar, you can peruse my earlier commentary on his work, read this recent interview at Hunt & Gather, or check out the Analog Color episode from Tessar's show earlier this year at project:gallery.

"Fact or Fiction"

Tessar and I spoke recently about the layers of meaning he seeks to express through subtle atmospheric and aging effects, but alas, I am unable to recall the conversation in perfect detail – so I lifted from his blog this beautiful contemplation on the allure of the imperfect, which may give you some deeper insight into his work.

"I've always really loved the aged aesthetic of old images. More than just minor scratches and bumps, I love huge, unforgiving water damage, torn areas, and unexplainable chemical stains that darken or lighten over time.

A few years back, my home in Scarborough got flooded. Since my room was in the basement, almost all my stuff had water damage. At first, I was devastated. But in the next few days, after picking through stuff I would keep and throw away, I started to realize how impermanent most everything is anyway; how easily things can literally be swept away. And then, looking at the journal pages and drawings before me with the stains, bleeding and dirt – I felt blessed that I had these ephemeral warriors. They had gone through battle and came out with scars that told a story of their own.

Now, whenever I go through the memory boxes and old books, I see the stains and remember that summer in Scarborough. How a seemingly disastrous occasion taught me about the course of things. Wrinkled, worn out paper showed me how precious and beautiful experience and wear can be. I am always looking for that. The falling and rising, the hurting and healing."

Sunday, November 2, 2008

“Change doesn’t happen from the top down. It happens from the bottom up.” – Barack Obama

"In our nation, the people are sovereign, not the government. It is the people, not the media or the financial system or mega-corporations or the two political parties, who have the power to create change." – Howard Dean

"I believe that we have a righteous wind at our backs, and that as we stand on the crossroads of history, we can make the right choices and meet the challenges that face us." – Barack Obama

History says, Don't hopeon this side of the grave.But then, once in a lifetimethe longed for tidal waveof justice can rise up,and hope and history rhyme.

Followers

About Me

I am obsessed with art, so whenever I see imagery that moves and inspires me, I need to write about it. In addition to the many profiles and interviews you can read here, I am co-author of Andrew Hem: Dreams Towards Reality, Dabs Myla: Midnight Fantasy, Mark Ryden: The Gay '90s, Edwin Ushiro: Gathering Whispers, Chris Berens: Mapping Infinity, Heroes & Villains and several other art monographs.